"An Attack on Rush is an Attack on America!"

NO. Rush is an attack on America.

When criticizing Rush Limbaugh, I was told by someone that “an attack on Rush is an attack on America." Nothing could be further from the truth. The ideas and policies advanced by Rush Limbaugh and his supporters in the Tea and Republican Parties are lethal to the American way of life. They are policies that would destroy much of the progress this nation has made over the last 100 years. The "Conservative" ideology of Limbaugh would have us roll back the gains of the New Deal and the Great Society. It is a mean, selfish ideology that would have everyone fend for themselves and have an economy and society governed by "Caveat Emptor” - let the buyer beware.

They would eliminate as much government regulation as possible, resulting in many more environmental disasters and many more injuries resulting from lax or absent product and workplace safety regulation. These folks would like to turn our country into a patchwork quilt of states all having their own versions of Civil Rights and regulatory environments. There would be an end to equal protection under the law, for each state would have its own standards of what is acceptable. Limbaugh and the other “Conservative” ideologues are a direct threat to the Middle Class, the poor, small business, and the concept of a fair, just, equitable society. They are a clear and present danger to America as we know it!

The "Conservative" ideology of Limbaugh and his cabal of political swindlers does not support a political belief system that moves us towards love and wisdom. That is Progressive Liberalism - certainly not Conservatism. Liberal may be defined as: Generous, Free, Tolerant, Not Bigoted, Freethinking, and Favoring Progressive Reforms that Improve the Welfare of Humanity. The current “Conservative” ideology is in opposition to these values. There is something fundamentally "off" about belief systems that base their ideological foundations on world views that support public policies and values that are essentially greedy, oppressive, intolerant, bigoted, mind-controlling, and that oppose progressive reforms that improve the conditions of humanity. Such so-called "Conservatism" isn't a philosophy, it is a spiritual illness based upon a lack of love, wisdom, and conscience. Whatever happened to taking care of the least among us? Letting people die from lack of adequate food, shelter, and health care (in the richest country in the world) isn't very compassionate, now is it?

It is as if Limbaugh and his cronies are spouting a political belief system taken out of the world view of Ebenezer Scrooge:

"Portly Gentleman: At this festive time of year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.

Ebenezer: Why? Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

Portly Gentleman: Many can't go there; and many would rather die.

Ebenezer: If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

Here we have exactly what “Conservative” social policies do - they destroy the lives to the least among us. “Conservatives” have opposed Progressive legislation from time immemorial. The standard and quality of life enjoyed by most of us in the U.S. was not brought about by the good wishes of the Republican Party or the political ideas of Rush Limbaugh! Rather, it has emerged as a result of the concerted efforts of generations of Liberals and Progressives, fighting for Children’s Rights, Women’s Rights, Voting Rights, Worker Rights, Consumer Rights, Equal Rights, Civil Rights, and Environmental Conservation.

Liberals and “Conservatives” have supported different political parties over the years. At the time of Abolition, the Progressives were in the Republican Party. But no more, as is clear from everything they say and do now. Today's “Conservatives” would have opposed Abolition, as the modern Tea Party ideology closely reflects what were positions of the Confederate political world view. Likewise the National Parks system founded by Teddy Roosevelt is something that would be opposed by today's Tea Party. They believe that nature is put here for us to pillage and poison as we wish - why save it? They do not believe that Global Warming is a fact, or that pollution is a serious environmental and public health issue.

Limbaugh and other leaders in the Tea Party are drawing from the hymnbook of the John Birch society - the leader of which called President Eisenhower a Communist! The old Republican Party that had Progressives is long gone. The Republican Party appears to have become a party of "Conservative" extremists and religious zealots. None of the other people in the Republican Party or "Conservative" camp challenge the radical Right Wing views of Limbaugh, so consequently we must assume that they all agree with him. Limbaugh and the New Right call themselves “Conservative” and embrace the traditions of that movement – historically opposing anything which might improve the welfare of society if it costs them anything, for they really don’t want to pay any taxes at all to contribute to the society in which they live. Limbaugh and the "Conservatives" on the New Right have hijacked the Republican Party and are trying to do the same to our country.

“Conservatives” have opposed everything from child labor laws, to occupational health and safety standards, consumer product safety legislation, the weekend, the 40 hour work week, minimum wage, health care reform, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Civil Rights, Equal Rights... the list goes on and on and on.

What have the “Conservatives” done for us lately - other than tax cuts for the rich and a war based on lies to the American public?

It is likely that most “Conservatives” are merely uninformed citizens who hear rhetoric about freedom, promises of tax cuts, and slogans like "don't tread on me," - and such things have great appeal. Many come from family traditions of voting Republican. But the Republican Party has changed over the years. Things like God and Country, the Flag, white picket fences, and a sentimentalized "Father Knows Best" mythology (in white suburbs, of course), are all icons that appeal to many Americans. People who respond to this type of Americana but who are not familiar with American history and the sacrifices whole generations made to improve the living conditions of everyday citizens are manipulated by cynics like Limbaugh and the leaders of the Tea and Republican Parties. Unfortunately many of these economically Middle and Lower Middle Class people wind up suffering from Conservative policies. How many of them would like it if the “Conservatives” actually succeeded in eliminating the Department of Education, Fair Housing laws, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Welfare, and Food Stamps?

Other followers of the Regressive thinking of Rush Limbaugh and the Tea and Republican Parties are those who are intolerant and socially myopic. Some are merely selfish. But some are the kinds of zealots that wind up in social manifestations like terrorist militias, religious Inquisitions, and the kind of folks who are agitating for death penalties for gay people in Uganda. Others are selfish big business fat cats like the Robber Barons of the 19th Century (who will take voting supporters from any ideology), or the industrialists who built their wealth on the backs of men, women, and children who worked 12+ hour days in Dickensian sweatshops or like the plantation owners whose lives, wealth, and society were supported by slave labor. Still others are like the people in the old South who looked the other way regarding slavery and then fought to defend it as an institution while reading their Bibles. Most are not truly mean, but some are – and their leaders like Limbaugh certainly are, as evidenced by their positions on issues!

What many seem to not understand is that the "Culture War" that the "Conservatives” want to inflict on the rest of us is not just some abstraction to be debated theoretically. There are real world consequences to which policies are ultimately brought to govern society. Whether it is the abolition of slavery, women's rights, equal rights, Civil Rights, or Gay rights - the malevolent amongst the "Conservatives" - like Limbaugh - whip their flock up into a lather to resist the uplift of our fellow citizens. They are socially dangerous, and MUST be resisted. It is our patriotic duty as Americans to resist the dismantling of our way of life at the hands of these extremists and religious zealots.

Study your history - those who consider themselves "Conservatives" are often co-opted by the unscrupulous who organize their legions by calling for social stability, flag waving, and preaching about God and Country. People who are poorly educated and selfish or greedy and who like "order" get easily swayed by the truly intolerant. Then the social disruptions begin and real people suffer. This has happened throughout history, in many different countries. We MUST NOT repeat Right Wing experiments with the dismantling of Progressive, civil society in 21st Century America!

Never mind that many of the people who call themselves "Conservatives" are often sorry after the violations of rights, destruction of the society through neglect of the well being of its citizens, and massive economic dislocations from fraud and corruption. Never mind that they often wind up enjoying the benefits of those very things they resisted - like Social Security and Medicare. What the people who support Conservatism seem to miss is that when the "Conservative" political forces win, others die. I am not exaggerating. Without occupational health and safety standards, people die. Without Welfare and Food Stamps, people die. Without industrial regulation, people die. Without product safety regulations, people die. Without Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid, people die. Without extending health care coverage to the uninsured, people die. When “Conservative” policies take over running societies, the lives of real people are destroyed. When such forces raise their head they must be resisted - it seems like every generation must face down the forces of greed, bigotry, cruelty, and oppression.

To not attack Rush is a dereliction of duty. To let Rush and his fellow “Conservative” ring leaders get away with advancing his ideology of fear, hate, and bigotry and its regressive social policies is to abandon the American Way and everything generations of Americans have fought and paid for so dearly. We must not be complacent, nor silent, or inactive in strongly repudiating this assault on America and our values! It is our patriotic duty as Americans to resist Rush Limbaugh and the rest of his band of anti-social ideological extremists!

Copyright 2010, B.E. Foley

There are Very Real Differences Between the Democrats and the Republicans

Some supporters of the Tea Party are trying to fool people into believing that they need "to reject the phony paradigm of left and right in politics" and that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans. We must beware of falling into their trap of blurring the distinctions between the political parties and attempts at whitewashing the history of the Right while papering over the contributions of Democrats to our way of life. Don't be fooled, this is just part of a propaganda effort to brainwash the American public, recruit people to Tea Party movement, and then channel members into voting for Republicans in the Fall!

The following was posted in an article on the web site “Prisonplanet.com:”

"As regular readers of this website and listeners to the Alex Jones show will understand, we urge people to reject the phony paradigm of left and right in politics – we expose the ongoing agenda that is ever present, no matter which party is in government. We show how both parties are controlled under the same system of elitist oppression. In short – for eight long years under Bush we were labeled radical left wing lunatics – overnight that changed and we are now described as dangerous right wing racists."

-by Steve Watson, in an article titled: Rise Of The New Right” MSNBC Documentary Cites Alex Jones, Rand Paul As “Extremists” - Friday, May 28th, 2010

Such a statement reveals either a gross ignorance of American history or an attempt to distort history in the attempt to manipulate the public. We need to set the record straight. First of all, ardent Tea Party supporters like Rand Paul and David Duke have never been considered "Left Wing!" The author of this article, Steve Watson, claims that Chris Matthews of MSNBC is a Marxist and that Alex Jones and Rand Paul are not extremists. This is incorrect at best. As far as Chris Matthews is concerned, he comes across as a staunch Democrat, and a well paid one at that. He does not seem to be a hammer and sickle waving Marxist – his suits are too expensive! And as to whether Rand Paul is an extremist - well, in answering this, one must consider that he doesn’t support the application of Civil Rights to private business. This would allow for segregated bars and restaurants, returning us to the days of the whites only lunch counters at Woolworth’s. Is this an extremist viewpoint? Many would think so! This is not exactly a mainstream idea; unless we are to believe that this is what a majority of people in the New Right actually support. Alex Jones? Well, this fellow runs a hard Right Wing conspiracy theory website. He believes that the government is trying to take away peoples guns, and that secret elements are conspiring within the government to take away people’s rights. Fans of his website include members of Stormfront and the National Alliance - Right Wing, Neo–Nazi, White Power extremists - like police shooter Richard Andrew Poplawski. Extremist? It would be hard to believe otherwise.

This site – “prisonplanet” - and its authors are apologists for the Tea Party, not some disinterested group of reasonable non-partisan scholars. Don't be fooled by such rhetoric! Here come more lies from the "New Right" – it seems like their movement is cynically embracing the “Big Lie” policy: if you tell a big enough lie and repeat it often enough, the people will believe you.

These anti-government, anti-regulation, anti Civil Rights, anti-federal government supporters of the New Right are extremists. They are supported by and associate with people who hold views far outside the mainstream of American politics. These people hate government in any form and think that it is the enemy. What they are really saying is that they don’t like Democracy, for if you get rid of government of the people, by the people, and for the people; what is the result? You get the end of the United States as a federal representative republic. At least in a government established and run by Democratic principles, we can un-elect officials we don't like. We can't do that in the case of the boards of directors of corporations, and not in the case of the people who run international conglomerates - like BP!

Distortions of history and twisting of truth are apparently parts of the attempt by the New Right to undo the legacies of the New Deal, the Great Society - and the Civil Rights, Equal Rights, and Gay Rights movements. The New Right is actively working to take over elected offices at all levels of government from school boards to the U.S. Congress and the Presidency itself so that they can dismember the government and turn this country into a patchwork quilt of differing rights, standards, and regulations on a state by state basis. If they could achieve that, they believe that they could set up their own private fiefdoms beyond the oversight of the federal government, and without "Justice for All."

The New Right, as embodied by those in the Tea and Republican Parties, would like to confuse the American public as to the differences between Democrats and Republicans, the Right and the Left, and what the differences are between the meanings of the terms Liberal and Conservative. They would like nothing better to work around the tarnished brand of the Republican Party – ruined by the legacy of the Bush administration. To do this they have concocted a strategy whereby they create a “movement” (i.e. the Tea Party) that attempts to market itself as distinct from the Republican Party. This combined with professional twisters of truth and history editorializing daily on the airwaves – such as Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity – provides what is supposed to appear as a grassroots upwelling that is independent of the baggage of the Republican Party. In actuality, the Tea Party and the Right Wing commentators are just shills for garnering Republican votes.

In the United States we have developed a two party system. This is not a perfect way of representing issues, but it works much better than a one party system or a hundred party system. There is no real reason why we couldn't have more than two parties. It just seems that third, fourth, and fifth parties fizzle in this country. Sometimes a “third party” candidate wins an election, but this seems to be more the result of personality politics, and the movements dissolve shortly after their standard bearers are out of office. Some countries, such as Italy have more parties than one would want to count! This has made for truly broken government. It remains to be seen whether any truly viable alternatives to the Democratic and Republican Parties will be established in the U.S. For now, we deal with a two party system. Although it has its downsides, nonetheless, many progressive developments have come from activism within the Democratic Party – although these are constantly opposed by the Republicans. The Democratic Party, for all its shortcomings, has historically been the party of progress, and the Republican Party has been the party of “NO!”

The key thing is that there are very real and deep policy differences between the Democrats and Republicans and they have historically taken quite different paths. The Democrats have traditionally been the party of the working families of this country and the Republicans have been traditionally the party of business - and increasingly that of "Conservative Values" - a combination of Evangelical Christianity and anti-government activists. Unfortunately it is true that our two major parties are awash in money and that big business contributes to both of them. But this is where any similarity ends.

Let’s make no mistake - there are very important and serious distinctions between the parties, as is quite clear by their positions on issues. It was the Democrats who enacted Civil Rights legislation. The Republicans opposed Civil Rights. It was the Democrats who fought for Equal Rights, while the Republicans opposed equal pay for equal work. Recently, it has been the Democrats who have fought for Universal Health care and financial regulation of the markets – without ANY help from the Republicans. When it comes to environmental protection, it has been the Democrats who have fought to preserve our national treasures and endangered species while the Republicans support oil drilling in nature preserves, and oppose saving endangered species when that creates difficulties for their ability to make money.

When it comes to working conditions and the rights of workers, the Republicans have been on the wrong side of history on every vote. The Democrats have struggled hard in the face of Republican opposition to enact child labor laws barring children from working long hours in Dickensian conditions. The Democrats fought for the 40 hour work week and the weekend, both of which were opposed by the Republicans. It was the Democrats who worked hard and fought for the Minimum Wage, Workers Compensation, and Unemployment Compensation. The Republicans opposed all of the above. It was the Democrats who brought us Occupational Health and Safety standards, improving working conditions for workers so that they didn’t have to risk their lives in dangerous and toxic environments. If left to the Republicans, people would still be living in company towns, be working 16 hour days in horrible conditions, receive no compensation if injured or laid off, be paid a pittance above slave labor wages, and have their children working long days in horrid conditions to make ends meet. The Republican motto might just as well have been, “let the worker beware” – as well as the buyer.

Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats lobbied for and enacted product safety legislation; and yes this too was opposed by the Republicans. Every time you safely plug in your toaster, take medicine, drive your car, give your child a toy, or operate mechanical equipment you can thank a Democrat, not a Republican.

The Democrats brought American society the benefits of Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Welfare, and Food Stamps, all again opposed by the Republicans. Just imagine the misery of millions of Americans without these progressive improvements for our society – not to mention the crime rate caused by millions of desperate people without recourse! Without such programs there would be much more poverty and many more deaths. By opposing policies that help people, are Republicans suggesting that their favorite phrase, "Lift yourselves up by your bootstraps" is code for getting rid of the poor, or policies to, as Scrooge said, "decrease the surplus population?"

The Republicans claim they support individual rights, but oppose reproductive rights (including birth control and family planning), oppose equal rights, oppose gay rights, and brought us the drug war, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands dead around the world and the mass incarceration of millions of minorities in this country. The results of this failed war on our own citizens has cost us over a trillion dollars but has been a long term human rights disaster for the individuals, families, and communities involved. It would seem that the Republican Party is not the party of individual rights at all. If there is any “conspiracy” to deny the American public their rights, it is the Republican Party itself, not Liberals, Democrats, or others!

The Republicans, under George Bush, took us into a war in Iraq under false pretenses, and have given us the longest war in American history. What is the great legacy of the Republican Party to the well-being and progress of our nation? What can be pointed to as the great accomplishments of the Republican Party and their Conservative “philosophy”- financial market de-regulation, government regulators who really work for industry, and tax cuts for the rich? The legacy of the Republican Party is a long history of opposing the rights of the people, a huge economic collapse, and a seemingly endless war. Their positions on issues have been and are regressive and are total disasters for the American public!

If left to the mercies of the Republicans, one can only wonder what kind of country we would be living in… some kind of autocratic slave state full of misery, pollution, discrimination, and corporate townships run by political cronies. It is hard to believe that, given the “legacy” of the Republican Party, any American - with a rational mind or loving heart, and who is aware of the historical reasons why we enjoy the quality of life that we do - would vote Republican! The Republicans have fought tooth and nail to oppose every single one of the above noted progressive improvements in the lives of Americans. Many people are not aware of how actually regressive and opposed to the well being of the everyday person the Republican party has been and still is.... it’s time to call them on it, and not be fooled again!

Copyright 2010, B.E. Foley